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Get those bumpers sorted and take it some conkers events.I saw an A-plate Lada estate on the road a few weeks back, older round headlight jobbie. Good to see. I do regularly see a P-plate one around town (have taken a picture), with grotty front wings like HK's.Seen an awful lot get raced over the years.

I saw an A-plate Lada estate on the road a few weeks back, older round headlight jobbie.

Get a pic if you can! The original 1200's are few & far between, & P.C mag says there are 3 1300's left on the road! I saw a B plate round light/chrome grille Lada estate in Winchester within the last few years, I was surprised it was so new! Before that the last one was a red T reg suffix saloon in Bognor, now long gone.

They're getting well rare, all of them but I guess that they have little value, this was only Ã‚Â£130, I'm very happy, the bumper's can be sorted easily and then there's a East European meet at the Ace Cafe in October so I'll have it buffed for then!I know of a cheap 1200L in Bracknell if anyone's interested?

I drove one quite a few days ago. It wasn't strictly mine, but I had to drive it up from Farnham to Hull which presumably was taken back to russia. The lack of refinement was unbearable, the seats back breaking and I developed a massive headache after 30 minutes of driving it, but it didn't miss a beat. It was a red Y reg one very similar to the one below...would this be the Bracknell car? I spotted this while I was working at Reading uni some 4 years ago.

I'm surprised there are that many in the UK still to export back...I remember seeing that estate in the Reading area a wee while ago - I'll look out for it on my travels. Odds on it was supplied by the same garage that supplied my mum's 1200 Estate, Riva 1200L and Samara 1300 back in the old days. My parents never did like secondhand cars so they bought new Ladas for my mum instead. Bloody tough on my upbringing I can tell you.

I appriciate the stigma of turning up to school in a Lada. My parents had an elderly Datsun for most of my school days - all friends parents had swish european hot hatches and luxury cars. Typically enough as soon as I left, they bought a new Volvo - but they tend to keep their cars for a long time.My expedition up to Hull would have been around 1992/93 so there would have been quite a few knocking around then. When I turned up at the docks, there must have been at least another 30 ladas scattered around - in all states of condition, some look like they had been dragged out of peoples gardens, others were only a few years old. Not sure whether there still is a trade to Russia, as I'd imagine they'd much rather drive Mercs or BMWs.

Well the Lada is still made in Russia, still pretty popular and to be honest they aren't that badly made, every blacksmith in Russia knows how to fix them and the suspension is made for crap Russian roads. There's obviously the patriotic side of it too but remember they're really cheap locally too. The reason they were reimported back in the early 90's was basically because the UK Ladas were the highest spec'd Ladas in the world, Western cars were still treated with suspicion as they were pretty rare on the roads, things have changed and they are old giffers motors there too....
Anyway, here's the Bracknell car MOT & Tax until November, needs welding but goes well:

My memories are of a tough car but the interior trim was piss-poor. The owner's manual - and toolkit - were something else, an adaptor on the footpump for blowing through the carb needles, and plenty of info on how to service the thing if you're stuck in the Urals.Thick metalwork too - my mum got backed into by a Transit minibus who was reversing at about 20mph and didn't see her (I was at my mate's front door at the time and witnessed the whole thing...the Transit driver didn't hear her beeping either, think he got his P45 the next day) - twisted bumper and a broken headlight was the sum total of the damage, Transit came off much worse! Also have great memories of it towing my dad's Sierra back to work on his last day in that job, as he couldn't get it started, not bad for a 1200 all in all.In the end when I came up to 17 the Samara HAD to go...no street cred for a learner - after a brief flirtation with a new Citroen AX 'Neon' (P/X value for the Samara at the Cit garage was the dealbreaker), the Lada dealer had a 9-month old Metro 1.1S ex-hire car in for Ã‚Â£6k so we had that. Samara - with 6k miles on it after 4 years - got p/x'd in for Ã‚Â£1,750, went up on the forecourt the next day for Ã‚Â£2,995 and was sold within the week...Happy memories.

Despite the less than rosy experience with the one I had, I have to say that blue sedan would look really neat as 'top gear' special replica. The colours right, maybe a little detailing - odd gulf sticker here and there, early bumpers with over-riders, black wide steels, lower springs and you have something pretty neat looking. I might try a photoshop of it later if I've had a few beers. Dare I ask how much?

I remember sitting in one at the motor show in about 1992 and wondering at the fact that such a vehicle was still available new. The interior looked like it had been flung together by a semi-trained chimpanzee, and the column stalks felt like they'd snap off the first time they were used. I've never owned one - I've had brief flirtations with the idea of a late model one when one has come up on eBay, but the cheap ones always seem to have failed the MoT on emissions (carbs and cats never did mix). The only Lada I've ever owned was a Samara - a P-plate 1.5 GXi saloon in white, with 5-spoke alloys and pop-up sunroof. Paid Ã‚Â£150 for it four years ago with 8 months' ticket. The injection system was rather crude and the steering was astonishingly heavy for a car of its size, but overall it didn't drive too badly.